In my July 28 blog, I gave you my homefield edges for 2011 and today I want to take a look at the best home records of the last decade and also look at some interesting variables. First here is the complete list of all 120 teams for home records.

Home Records 2001-2010

Rank

Team

Win

Loss

Total

%

1

Boise St

63

2

65

96.92%

2

Oklahoma

61

2

63

96.83%

3

Ohio St

64

7

71

90.14%

4

TCU

51

7

58

87.93%

5

Troy

41

6

47

87.23%

6

USC

52

8

60

86.67%

7

LSU

61

10

71

85.92%

8

Texas

52

9

61

85.25%

9

Utah

49

9

58

84.48%

10

Virginia Tech

57

11

68

83.82%

11

Texas Tech

51

11

62

82.26%

12

Florida

54

12

66

81.82%

12

Iowa

54

12

66

81.82%

14

Georgia

51

12

63

80.95%

15

West Virginia

52

13

65

80.00%

16

Wisconsin

55

14

69

79.71%

17

Oregon

51

13

64

79.69%

18

Auburn

58

15

73

79.45%

19

Nebraska

56

16

72

77.78%

20

Boston College

50

15

65

76.92%

21

Hawaii

62

19

81

76.54%

22

Miami

48

15

63

76.19%

23

Penn St

53

17

70

75.71%

24

Northern Illinois

43

14

57

75.44%

25

Louisville

46

16

62

74.19%

26

Fresno St

43

15

58

74.14%

26

Toledo

43

15

58

74.14%

28

Oregon St

45

16

61

73.77%

28

USF

45

16

61

73.77%

30

Alabama

53

19

72

73.61%

31

BYU

44

16

60

73.33%

32

Clemson

49

18

67

73.13%

33

Michigan

51

19

70

72.86%

34

Marshall

42

16

58

72.41%

35

Arkansas

52

20

72

72.22%

36

Missouri

44

17

61

72.13%

37

Southern Miss

41

16

57

71.93%

38

Maryland

46

18

64

71.88%

39

Cincinnati

43

17

60

71.67%

39

Nevada

43

17

60

71.67%

41

Tennessee

50

20

70

71.43%

41

Florida St

45

18

63

71.43%

43

Kansas St

48

20

68

70.59%

44

Oklahoma St

46

20

66

69.70%

45

Connecticut

43

19

62

69.35%

46

Georgia Tech

43

20

63

68.25%

46

California

43

20

63

68.25%

48

Pittsburgh

43

21

64

67.19%

49

Arizona St

45

22

67

67.16%

50

South Carolina

46

23

69

66.67%

51

Virginia

43

22

65

66.15%

52

Arkansas St

35

18

53

66.04%

53

Texas A&M

44

23

67

65.67%

54

UCLA

40

21

61

65.57%

55

Bowling Green

34

18

52

65.38%

56

Louisiana Tech

33

18

51

64.71%

57

Air Force

39

22

61

63.93%

58

Colorado

38

22

60

63.33%

58

Houston

38

22

60

63.33%

58

Tulsa

38

22

60

63.33%

61

Michigan St

43

25

68

63.24%

62

Navy

34

20

54

62.96%

63

Kansas

41

25

66

62.12%

64

UCF

37

23

60

61.67%

65

Middle Tennessee

32

20

52

61.54%

66

Purdue

41

26

67

61.19%

67

NC State

41

27

68

60.29%

68

Mississippi

40

27

67

59.70%

69

WKU

34

23

57

59.65%

70

Central Michigan

31

21

52

59.62%

71

Notre Dame

38

26

64

59.38%

72

Western Michigan

32

22

54

59.26%

73

Iowa St

38

27

65

58.46%

74

East Carolina

32

24

56

57.14%

75

Miami, Ohio

29

22

51

56.86%

76

Colorado St

31

24

55

56.36%

77

Minnesota

37

29

66

56.06%

78

Northwestern

34

27

61

55.74%

79

Wake Forest

35

28

63

55.56%

80

Rice

28

23

51

54.90%

80

Akron

28

23

51

54.90%

82

UAB

29

24

53

54.72%

82

Ohio

29

24

53

54.72%

84

UTEP

32

27

59

54.24%

85

Stanford

32

28

60

53.33%

86

New Mexico

33

29

62

53.23%

87

North Carolina

33

30

63

52.38%

88

Rutgers

34

31

65

52.31%

89

Florida Atlantic

25

23

48

52.08%

90

Kentucky

35

33

68

51.47%

91

San Jose St

27

26

53

50.94%

92

San Diego St

30

29

59

50.85%

93

Memphis

32

31

63

50.79%

94

Illinois

31

31

62

50.00%

94

Washington St

31

31

62

50.00%

94

ULM

25

25

50

50.00%

94

Louisiana

27

27

54

50.00%

98

Syracuse

31

32

63

49.21%

99

Wyoming

29

30

59

49.15%

100

Arizona

32

34

66

48.48%

101

Kent St

26

28

54

48.15%

102

Washington

31

34

65

47.69%

103

Indiana

30

33

63

47.62%

104

Ball St

25

29

54

46.30%

105

Baylor

29

34

63

46.03%

106

Utah St

23

27

50

46.00%

107

New Mexico St

25

32

57

43.86%

108

SMU

26

34

60

43.33%

108

Tulane

26

34

60

43.33%

110

Mississippi St

28

37

65

43.08%

111

Temple

24

32

56

42.86%

112

FIU

19

27

46

41.30%

113

North Texas

21

31

52

40.38%

114

Idaho

20

30

50

40.00%

115

UNLV

22

37

59

37.29%

116

Vanderbilt

21

44

65

32.31%

117

Eastern Michigan

16

34

50

32.00%

118

Army

17

38

55

30.91%

119

Buffalo

16

39

55

29.09%

120

Duke

14

48

62

22.58%

Totals

4625

2690

7315

63.23%

It is no surprise that Boise St is atop the list as their blue uniforms blend in with the blue turf giving them a unique advantage. Only one team has beaten them at home during the regular season and that was way back in 2001 when a Wash St team that finished 10-2 and #10 in the polls beat them 41-20. Their other home loss was in a bowl game vs Boston College 27-21 in 2005. While Boise has an incredible home record it must be factored in that they have played just 7 BCS conference schools at home this decade and are 5-2 in those games. That makes Oklahoma's record of 61-2 even more remarkable. Almost all of their home games have been vs BCS foes and ironically one of their two home losses was to a non-BCS school when TCU beat them in 2005. Their other loss came when they were a 4 TD favorite to beat rival Oklahoma St which came into the game just 3-7 and that was the game that put Les Miles on the map. Oklahoma was caught looking ahead to their Big 12 title game vs Colorado the next week but that loss knocked them out of the game.

Eight teams have single digit losses at home this decade. Troy (6), Ohio St (7), TCU (7), USC (8), Texas (9), Utah (9) and Virginia Tech (9) have all lost less than 1 game at home per year. Here are some schools that rank near the top that the casual college football fan probably would not expect. Texas Tech is 51-11 at home this decade with Lubbock an out the way location with a loud home crowd. Despite having one of the smallest stadium capacities (44,500) for BCS schools, Boston College is 50-15 at Alumni. Northern Illinois is one of the loudest places to play despite the small capacity and they are 43-14 at home.

Is there an advantage to playing at home?

The 120 FBS teams have a combined home record of 4625-2690 which means that they win 63.2% of their home games. Also there are 97 of the 120 teams that have a record of .500 or better at home and just 23 teams that have a losing record at home this decade.

Let me take a closer look at the teams at the bottom of the list. All 23 teams listed above that had losing records at home have losing records overall this decade. There are 8 BCS conference schools on the list in Syracuse, Arizona, Washington, Indiana, Baylor, Mississippi St, Vanderbilt and Duke. When Duke wins opposing players usually say they were lulled to sleep by the high school sized crowds and they have pulled some upsets like upsetting Clemson in 2004 and Georgia Tech in 2003 but 6 of their 14 wins at home this decade have been vs FCS or 1AA foes so they are actually 8-47 at home vs FBS teams this decade.

That got me thinking of how many times a team has been an underdog at home this decade. Is there any team in the country that has not been an underdog even once at home? The answer is yes and it is Oklahoma who has lost only two of those. Florida has been a home dog just once in the "Swamp" and that was vs Florida St a game they did lose 38-34. Vegas linesmakers knew what they were doing with Boise St as they have been a home dog just twice this decade and those were their two home losses.

It probably does not surprise you that Duke has been a home dog 46 times this decade which is the most of any school.
That got me looking at two more scenarios. First of all which teams have been overrated at home. I took the amount of times a team was expected to lose at home (an underdog) and subtracted the amount of actual losses they suffered at home. There are 3 teams who lost 12 games (or more) than the amount of games they were expected to lose at home and the list is a little surprising. Florida St lost 18 games (12 in L/5 yrs) at home but were only a dog 4 times which puts them at the top of the list with 14.

Here are the teams that lost 12 or more games at home than was expected. 1. Florida St 14 2. Middle Tennessee 13 3. Southern Miss 12

Now lets take a look at the underrated home teams from this decade. I know Virginia has been a much better team at home than on the road. They are 43-22 at home and just 17-37 when playing on the road. It surprises me that they have been expected to lose (underdog) 29 times at home this decade and yet they have lost just 22 times. That is 7 full games better than expected and that is the 2nd best in the FBS. As you would expect the numbers are a lot lower for teams who actually have less losses at home than games they were expected to lose.

Here are the top 3 teams. Rice with 9. Virginia with 7 and Nevada with 5.